by anna snow
"You're both right," I said and drummed my fingers on the desktop. "But there are other avenues I can consider. Even if I am going over everyone and everything the cops have already checked out, I might still find something. It isn't always easy for people to talk to cops. Maybe I can get something out of the family and friends that the cops couldn't."
"Maybe." Mandy shook her head. "If you think you can help this girl, then who am I to stop you…like I even could." She smiled.
I tossed her a saucy wink because she was right. When I set my mind on something, it was nearly impossible to sway me. I leaned back in my chair with a notepad and pen. "First things first, I'm going to call Tyler and see if he knows anything about this case. I'm pretty sure he isn't working this one, so he probably won't be able to help me with it, but he can put me in contact with whose case this is, and maybe I can get some general information from them that Cindy couldn't give me."
"While you're doing that, what do you want us to do?" Kelly asked.
"I need you and Mandy to take these names"—I leaned forward, grabbed the piece of paper I'd taken notes on during Cindy's visit, and handed it to Mandy—"and find their addresses, phone numbers, and places of employment."
"Got it. What else?"
"I need you"—I motioned toward Kelly—"to get the names of the victim's close relatives. Moms, dads, siblings, maybe even a cousin or two. The more people I talk to, the more likely I am to find myself on the right path."
"I'll do my best," Kelly said.
Kelly wasn't exactly tech-savvy, but with Mandy's tutoring she had come a long way. She now knew how to Google without landing in the middle of a website for an elderly nude beach, as had happened more times than I could count in the past.
I wasn't completely confident she could get the info I needed. Kelly was of more use in the field, but I wanted to work this case fast, not just for my own personal benefit but for Cindy's safety and peace of mind as well.
Both ladies stood and grabbed their coffee cups. "We'll get right on this," Mandy said as she turned and strode toward the open office door.
Kelly followed along. "If you need anything else, give us a shout," she called over her shoulder then closed the door behind her.
I picked up my phone and dialed Tyler's number. As a detective for the Dallas Police Department, my main squeeze was constantly busy, so it surprised me a little when he answered on the third ring.
"Hello, beautiful. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"
I admit it. I melted a little at the sound of his deep, rugged, slightly teasing voice.
"As much as I wish I was calling to ask you out to dinner, I need a little help."
"Okay, what do you need?" he asked, and I could hear suspicion creeping into his voice.
"Well, you see, yesterday evening when I was leaving the yoga studio with the girls—"
"Wait a second." I could hear the grin in his voice. "Did you just say you were leaving a yoga studio? As in you were there doing yoga?"
"Don't sound so surprised," I said. "I have a cruise coming up with a hot detective, and I'm not going to have people trying to clear my blowhole and shove me back into the water the second I put on a bikini and lay out by the pool."
He laughed. "Babe, you're too hard on yourself. That would never happen, and you know I think you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
"Sweet talker." I chuckled. "Anyway, back to my favor," I said trying to get back to shop talk instead of talk of my big ol' booty. "I ran into an acquaintance as I was on my way to my car, and she asked for my help."
I told Tyler about Cindy, the club, and the murders.
"I need to know if you can put me in touch with the detective leading the case."
"So, you took on another case," he said flatly.
"Yes," I said, trying to sound confident in my decision, but the truth was, I didn't think I was going to find anything, especially since a month had passed and the cops seemed to be at a dead end.
"Good grief, Barb. You're supposed to be wrapping up cases before our cruise, not taking on new ones."
"I know that," I said and blew out a sigh. "But she needs my help. She's scared, and there's no way I could enjoy myself on that cruise if I knew she might be in danger and I just left without at least trying to help her."
"Alright. I get it," Tyler groaned. "Let me see what I can do, and I'll call you back."
"Thanks. Have I told you you're my favorite detective?" I teased.
"Almost every day." I could hear the smile in his voice. "I'll call you back as soon as I have something for you."
"Thanks. Talk to you soon," I said then dropped the phone into my purse. There was no telling how long it would be before Tyler called me back. He wasn't exactly the punctual type while on the job.
I'd already looked up the murders on the internet, and the girls were busy gathering intel on the victims, so I was at a bit of a standstill, which I couldn't tolerate. Sitting around twiddling my thumbs while I waited was out of the question.
I contemplated cleaning off my desk for an entire five seconds before I came to my senses. Still, I wadded up an old paper and tossed it in the general direction of the trash can and missed as usual.
I blew out a breath and went to pick up the wadded ball. Halfway to the can I tripped on air and ended up rolling to the can instead. I just lay there with a new patch of rug burn on my elbow, staring up at the ceiling, wondering how I even managed to tie my shoes in the morning without killing myself somehow. Then it hit me.
It was still kind of early, just before noon, but I was certain there was someone at the Double Trouble Gentlemen's Club who might be willing to answer some questions, especially if it pertained to securing their safety.
I made a cup of to-go coffee with the Keurig, grabbed my things, and left my little office.
Mandy and Kelly were huddled around Mandy's computer monitor but glanced in my direction when they heard me cross the room.
"What's up, boss?" Kelly asked, scrunching her brow.
"I called Tyler, and he's going to find out what he can about the case and who's working it then call me back," I explained. "Which really helps me because I've never had very good luck getting information about an ongoing investigation out of the detective working the case. In the meantime I thought I would pay a visit to the Double Trouble Gentlemen's Club and ask a few questions. Maybe someone who was working the nights that the women were killed will be there. Someone besides Cindy."
"Are you thinking someone who works at the club killed the girls?" Kelly asked.
"It's possible," I said and shrugged. "I'm thinking that in order for someone to kill the girls backstage at the club, they had to be able to move about freely without someone thinking their presence was suspicious."
"Makes sense," Mandy said. "Surely if one of the ladies had seen someone backstage or near the back who wasn't supposed to have been there, they would have said something."
"Which is why I'm thinking that our killer or killers work there." I zipped my purse closed and looked back up at Kelly. "Do you want to come along? It might save us some time with both of us questioning the staff."
Kelly nodded, stood, and crossed the room to grab her purse. "Of course."
"Hold down the fort," I said to Mandy as I pressed open the door leading out to the sidewalk.
"You got it," she said with her usual amount of cheer.
Kelly and I headed out. The Double Trouble Gentlemen's Club was just a short distance away.
"It's barely noon," Kelly said as she tossed her purse into the back seat with mine. "Do you think there's going to be anyone at the club to talk to this early in the day? Wouldn't it be better to wait until tonight when it's busier to check the place out?" Kelly asked as she motioned to the coffee shop on the left.
She didn't have to ask me twice. It was going to be a long day, and I was running low on coffee in my system, even though I'd just finished off the joe in my travel mug. In my defense
it was a small mug. I pulled into the drive-thru behind a small pink Honda Civic and waited.
"Remember when we worked that case back in the summer? When we met Cindy?"
"Sure." Kelly nodded. "How could I forget?"
"Well, it wasn't much later in the day than it is now when I stopped at the club to poke around, and there were plenty of people. Not as many as there are during the late shift but enough to question and without as much distraction as we would find at night."
"You're right. Without as many demanding customers we can most likely talk to more of the girls without interruption."
The car in front of us pulled away, and we approached the window. I placed our order for two iced caramel macchiatos and handed the cashier my credit card. A few short minutes later, iced coffees in hand, we pulled away from the coffee shop and were once again on our way to the club.
The sky was overcast, and the threat of rain loomed overhead, but I didn't mind. Fall was fast approaching, and the sticky summer heat of Dallas was becoming a thing of the past, for a few months at least. According to the weatherman, I'd be able to break out my favorite lightweight sweater over the next couple of days.
The Double Trouble Gentlemen's Club was located in a booming neighborhood not far from the racetrack, which I guess made sense with all of the traffic passing by the place. Some patrons were sure to stop in for a look-see, especially if they won a little moolah at the racetrack.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled my black Cadillac CTS into the parking lot of the Double Trouble Gentlemen's Club.
"Wow, I didn't expect there to be so many people here on a Friday morning. Don't these guys work?" Kelly asked as she undid her seat belt and checked her lipstick in the visor mirror while I crept around the lot looking for a place to park.
"That's kind of what I was thinking, but it's lunchtime now. I suppose some people take their lunch break here. It's easier for some of these guys to get away from their wives or girlfriends while on lunch break, I'm thinking."
Kelly shrugged as I pulled into a parking spot across the lot from the door.
We got out of the car and made our way across the asphalt. The club was a black and red brick building with a real urban feel to it. The windows were all blacked out, and the door was a heavy thick metal painted black. The sign hanging on the side of the building flashed The Double Trouble Gentlemen's Club in bright neon red letters.
I reached out to open the door, but it burst open on its own. I stepped back quickly to avoid being knocked down as two men wearing suits and ties walked past us as though we weren't even there toward a bright red sports car.
"I guess your lunch theory was right," Kelly said as she watched the guys get into the car and speed away.
"Imagine that," I said and shook my head, then grasped the door handle and stepped inside.
The light was dim within the club. The only real source of illumination came from the bright lights above the stage and the rack of lights above the bar.
"What exactly are we doing?" Kelly asked as we scanned our surroundings.
"I'd like to talk to anyone working today and see if they were here the nights the other girls were killed. Maybe they saw something that could help us." I scanned the main floor of the club and spotted six girls. Three dancing for customers, two standing in the shadows apparently on a break, and one leading a man to the shadows of the cushy VIP area.
"Let's split up," Kelly suggested. "We can cover more ground that way. I'll take those two in the corner there. The others look too busy to give us the time of day."
"My thoughts exactly," I agreed. "Meet me back at the bar in fifteen. I'm going to talk to the bartender. Maybe she can tell me something that could be of use."
"Sounds like a plan." Kelly nodded and walked away from me toward the two women wearing feather boas and platform shoes standing beside a table near the stage. Neither one looked too busy. Actually, they looked flat-out bored, so I was pretty sure Kelly would be able to at least get a couple of questions in before they either got suspicious of her or had to get back to work.
In my training days the private investigator I'd trained under had taught me that the best way to get information in a bar or club wasn't the patrons but the bartender. They had a way of knowing all and seeing all. If anyone in this joint could tell me what I wanted to know, it was most likely the bartender.
I made my way past a couple of men who had just entered the building and over to the black and red mirror-topped bar. I hopped up onto one of the black leather barstools and pushed my hair over my shoulder. The woman behind the counter was exceptionally pretty with shiny blue hair, matching blue eyes, and full lips. She was petite and had a small silver hoop in her nose.
It only took a second before she walked over to me and smiled a brilliant white smile. "What can I get for you?"
I returned her smile. I really couldn't help myself. Her cheer was infectious. "I'll take a coke. A lot of ice, please."
"Coming right up. I haven't seen you in here before. Is this your first time?" she asked as she poured my drink and slid it across the bar to me.
"No." I shook my head. "But I'm far from a regular. I'm actually a friend of Cindy's."
"Oh, awesome." Her smile grew. "I'm Sandy," she said and shook my hand. "Cindy's pretty great. She really helped me out a lot when I started working here. She got me this job. You see, I didn't want to take my clothes off, not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you." She held up her hands for a second. "It just isn't my thing," she explained. "Cindy's the one who talked Roy into letting me tend the bar instead of shaking it on the stage."
"Roy is the club owner, isn't he?" I asked and took a drink of my coke. "Is he around here somewhere?"
"Yeah, he owns the club, but he's not here at the moment, that I know of," she said and tiptoed up to clearly see the hallway leading back to the offices. I assumed she was checking if Roy was lurking around back there. "He wasn't too thrilled that I didn't want to dance but let it go, and now here I am."
"How did Cindy get him to give up so easily?"
"From what I understand, he said he had enough dancers, and the old bartender wasn't cutting it, not to mention skimming the till." She raised a brow. "So, Roy gave me a shot. I guess he figured he had nothing to lose."
"Makes sense." I stirred the ice in my glass with a little pink straw. Sandy looked all of about nineteen years old. I wondered how she and Cindy knew each other, as Cindy was in her mid-twenties. "So, do you go to school with Cindy?" I took a shot in the dark.
"I do." She smiled and wiped down the bar. "She and I are both majoring in criminal justice. I needed to make some extra cash. College girls gotta eat." She grinned. "And when we met in class, I was barely getting by working at a burger shack. Cindy and I hit it off, and after she found out I was barely surviving on what little money I was making, she helped me get this job and offered to let me stay at her place. Apparently she'd been looking for a roommate, so my moving in helped us both out. She's my best friend." She regarded me from beneath her mile-long eyelashes with curiosity. "How do you and Cindy know each other?" she asked. "I've never seen you around campus. Are you a student?"
I returned her smile, a little bit impressed she was able to shift the attention from herself to me with ease without making it seem like she was digging for answers. Had I not been a private eye, I wouldn't have caught what she'd done. Change the subject to get information out of me instead of just having polite conversation.
"No, definitely not a student." I chuckled. "Cindy lent a hand on a job I was working a few months back. If it hadn't been for her, I'm not sure I would have solved the case. We've kept in contact on and off ever since."
"You're a cop?" she asked skeptically. "You don't look like a cop." She wrinkled her brow, studying me.
I reached into my purse, pulled out a business card, and handed it to her. "No, I'm not a cop." I laughed lightly. "I'm a private detective. Barb Jackson."
"Oh, cool." She read the
card then looked back up at me with wide eyes. "Ooo, I bet you're here about the murdered girls, aren't you? Cindy mentioned she had a friend looking into things."
"That's exactly why I'm here." I nodded. "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
"Nope. I don't mind." She smiled.
"Did you know the victims well?"
"Not at all." She shook her head sadly. "I've only been working here for a couple of months, but they seemed nice enough. I'd never had any kind of problems with them or anything."
"Do you know if they had any admirers who were a little too attached, or enemies, someone they might have ticked off, even over something small, that you might know about? Did they have any trouble with the other girls?" I asked.
"I honestly don't know." She shook her head. "They were kind of loners, and to be perfectly honest, I don't talk a lot with the other girls myself. They dance, and I tend bar. We really don't interact with each other all that often, mostly because we're usually so busy, especially the late shifts. Tammy and Kiki were always nice to me when they came to the bar for a bottle of water and such, but they didn't really try to get close to anyone except each other."
"So, they were close with each other?" I asked for confirmation.
"From what I could tell they were BFFs. If I had to take a guess as far as enemies or admirers, the only one I can think of who might in fact hurt them is Tammy's ex. I can't remember his name." She tapped her fingers on the bar and frowned. "But he came around here trying to start drama a while back. Cindy called the cops the moment he walked in the door, and I haven't seen him since the cops dragged him out of here. Believe it or not, there's not a lot of drama here, that I've ever seen anyway." She shrugged.
I had a hard time believing there wasn't a lot of drama in a gentlemen's club, but hey, what did I know?
